URBANA – Community members gathered Saturday morning for a public hearing that explored the historical and ongoing hurt of Black Americans in Illinois, with a call to action for reparations.
The event took place at the Krannert Center in Urbana and was hosted by the State of Illinois African Descent-Citizens Reparations Commission (ADCRC) and local activist group Champaign-Urbana Reparations Coalition (CURC). Speakers called for compensation to help Black Americans heal from historical mistreatment.
”It’s not about individual reparations, We constitute a nationality, a nation of people that simply does not have a state,” said keynote speaker Sundiata Cha-Jua. “What we want to talk about is collective reparations, reparations to communities, reparations to the African American people as well as individual payments.”
Cha-Jua is an associate professor of African American studies at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. His keynote address was titled, “Stolen Labor and Hindered Opportunity.”
Other speakers discussed the African American wealth gap, mental and physical harm and neglect of Black Americans, and the way Black families have been treated like outsiders.
The statewide ADCRC commission has been holding public hearings across Illinois since 2021. The group’s board consists of appointed Illinois residents.
The commission’s goal is to research and present Illinois participation in the slave trade and the resulting disenfranchisement of African Americans, according to its website.
”ADCRC is offering a platform to amplify voices that have gone unheard for too long,” said Marvin Slaughter Jr., ADCRC chairman. “The commission works to ensure the full diversity of our people’s experiences, ideas and perspectives directly inform the policies.“
Another featured speaker, Reverend Terrance Thomas, engaged the crowd with his speech about the medical and spiritual mistreatment of African Americans, emphasizing the systemic neglect of Black women specifically.
“Doctors are to Black women what police are to Black men,” Thomas said.
Throughout the event, audience members cheered and vocalized support for the ideas presented. The public comment portion of the event held space for conversation among attendees.
This meeting was one of six held by the ADCRC.
The event co-host C-U Reparations Coalition began its work two years ago. A volunteer with the organization, Joyce Mast, thinks it’s important for people to address systemic harm to African Americans like redlining and discrimination, especially at the U of I.
The group takes inspiration from Evanston, which is the first municipality in Illinois to fund reparations to its citizens who have been harmed by housing discrimination.
”It is possible to have reparations because Evanston has it, and there are a couple other places in the country as well,” said Mast. “It is a growing movement both from the local to the international level, Champaign-Urbana is just one of many places taking action.”
Another volunteer, Marcia Nelson, said CURC has sent a proposal to Urbana that encouraged the funding of an intergovernmental commission, with hopes that the city of Champaign, the Champaign County Board and the U of I also participate.
“We’re working on creating a culture of repair in this community whereby individuals and institutions and most importantly the government can participate,” Nelson said.